


Klancemas Week

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Klancemas Week 2016, M/M, pinning lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-12 11:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9069262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: A week worth of Klance stories around the Christmas holidaysDay 1 - Mistletoe / Stockings (College AU)Day 2 - Tradition / Nostalgia (College AU)Day 3 - Cold / Warmth (Established Relationship)Day 4 - Sweaters / MusicDay 5 - Snow / Gingerbread (College AU/Barista!Lance AU)Day 6 - New Year’s Eve / Stars (Modern AU)Day 7 - Morning / Snuggle





	1. The Stocking Tradition Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance had made a mistake inviting Keith to spend Christmas with his family. How was he suppose to survive with his crush so close? Then Stella had to mention a stocking. Stupid stocking and his family's tradition. Keeping his crush a secret was not going to be easy now.

Lance walked through the aisles in Jo-Ann’s, looking through the piles of different fabrics they had. He sighed, what was he doing? He was in his 1st year of college and was so happy to be back home, expressly for Christmas. But something was different this year. He brought someone with him, Keith. When they met, he and Keith couldn’t stand each other. They were both astrophysics majors so they had a lot of the same classes, but Lance couldn’t stand how much higher Keith would score in assignments. He decided that they were rivals and would do everything to get under his skin. Keith’s short temper made it so easy and he could dish out just as easily. Everyone was so sure they could never get along till they were pared together to do a presentation for Astronomy. He surprised Keith by actually knowing what their topic was about and he was surprised by the control Keith gave him. During that time, they actually talked and realised how much they had in common. It was hard to return back to their usual behaviour after the project was over. They could still bicker for hours on end, definitely, but things were different. For one Lance started noticing things about Keith that he didn’t notice before, like how Keith would yank at his ear piercings when he got nervous, or how he was not a morning person and shouldn’t be approached unless he had coffee in hand. How good he looked with his bangs pined back or when he laughs, he really goes for it. The long and short of it was, Lance had a crush on Keith.

When it got closer and closer to Christmas break, and him, Hunk and Pidge would go on about wanting to go home or what they were going to do with their family, Keith had informed them that his older brother was in the Army and wouldn’t be able to get away for Christmas. Keith didn’t seem bothered by spending Christmas alone, saying that his brother had been home for Thanksgiving and they spent the whole time together, so he was fine. But for Lance, spending Christmas by yourself seemed so lonely. Before his mind could stop him, he suggested Keith spend Christmas with his family in L.A. He didn’t think that Keith would agree though.

He was sure that Keith would have no interest in him, so after Keith left to go train at the gym, Lance had a _mini_ panic attack. And when he says mini, he meant a full freak out on ‘what the hell was he thinking’ and ‘I’m going to have to be in close contact with my crush, who doesn’t like me’. Hunk and Pidge were able to calm him down and Hunk tried to convince him that there was a good chance he was wrong and Keith could like him, but Lance had a hard time believing that. All his other relationships ended badly because his personality was too much or he was too overbearing. Keith seemed to put up with him, but he could tell when he was too much to be around. But there was nothing that could be done. Keith accepted and now while Lance browsed the aisles, Keith was at home, probably being bugged by his younger siblings.

Lance groaned. Oh god, his family. They would not stop teasing him once he told them he was bringing someone over. It was even worse when his older siblings decided to make it worse by teasing him in front of Keith and telling him about all the embarrassing moments they had been witness to. Let not forget that Markus pretty much mentioned that he wouldn’t stop mentioning Keith in his calls home. He was waiting for the moment when Keith would come up to him and tell him he was spending the rest of break back in New York, away from him. Then to make matters worse, when they were hanging up family stockings, little Stella bugged Keith where his was. When he said he didn’t have one, she pretty much whined at her big brother that Keith had to have one and it wouldn’t be Christmas if Keith didn’t have a stocking. So, here he was, in a craft store, looking for fabric to make a stocking for Keith. But in their family, new stockings were made for new members of the family, usually those who were married in. But no, Stella didn’t care about that. The looks on his brothers’ faces was enough to make him cringe slightly.

He pulled out white fur and looked around for a shade of red that matched Keith’s favourite jacket. He was planning on locking himself away to finish it and then avoiding him as much as he could cause he knew his brothers would take the opportunity to embarrass him. He did that enough himself, he didn’t need help.

He dropped the swatches of fabric at the cutting desk and asked for the appropriate amount.

“Making something for your girlfriend?” the person working the desk asked.

“No.”

“Oh, sorry. Boyfriend?”

Lance tried not to flinch. “Nope, just a friend.” The attendant must of saw he wasn’t in a chatty mood and quickly cut the rest of the fabric. Lance collected it and went in search of thread for the sewing machine and press on letters. While looking his phone rang. “Hello?”

 _“Hey Lance! Just thought I’d check up on you. How’s it going with Keith?”_ Hunk, good old Hunk.

“Oh you know. Fine, if you minus the fact that my brothers are doing everything possible to embarrass me in front of him, like mentioning how much I talk about him or doing this that embarrass me in front of him.”

 _“Well to be fair, your brother’s are kinda assholes_.” Hearing Hunk curse would be surprising, but hearing it directed at his brothers, he really couldn’t find anything bad about it.

“Tell me about it.” Lance found the thread he was looking for and pulled the right colours off the shelf. “Let’s not add on the fact that Stella insisted we make a stocking for Keith. Hunk, you know what getting a stocking in my family means. How the hell am I supposed to keep this secret?”

“ _Well, you could tell him.”_ Hunk suggested

“No! Not happening.” At this time, Lance got everything and was heading to the line. “That’ll ruin our relationship and I can’t do that.”

“ _Lance…”_ Hunk whined but Lance was adamant. Not happening. “ _Alright fine. But promise me you won’t like, avoid him or anything if your brother’s say something, ok?”_ at the very least, that was something he could attempt, despite his previous plans.

* * *

 

Lance wasn’t lying when he said he’d lock himself in his room to finish the stocking. He barely saw Keith, but he knew that the younger siblings were taking care of him. He was also able to avoid his older brothers so there was another win. The few times he would see him, he would check up on him before disappearing. He knew his mother was annoyed at him because of that, but he assumed she knew why when he heard her yelling at his older brothers, just when he finished getting all the pieces sewn together. He had his headphones in, so knowing what she was yelling in Spanish was a bit hard but his brothers stopped coming to bug him, so it wasn’t too bad.

Keith decided to come into the room just when he finished sewing the extra decal on his stocking. Lance didn’t even notice him until he pulled his headphones off his ears. Lance turned around and jolted at the sight of him.

“Keith? What?”

“I’ve been letting your sister play with my hair for the past couple days and she has friends over and I’m not in the mood to become their life size doll for the afternoon.”

“Oh.”

The room was silent and Lance wasn’t looking at Keith when Keith asked, “did I do something?” Lance looked back at him confused. “It’s just, you asked me to come with you and you’ve kinda abandon me for the past couple days. I barely see you at dinner and when I can finally get away from your sister, you’re already asleep. I feel like I did something for you to avoid me.”

Lance looked back at the finished stocking and quickly tied off the thread and cut off the long pieces. “It wasn’t something you said.” He threw the stocking over his shoulder and heard Keith move to catch it. “I had to finish that. You heard Stella, you had to have a stocking.”

Keith was silent before he asked, “you…you made this? For me?”

Feeling his face get red, Lance didn’t look at Keith as he explained, “that’s why I’ve been in here all day. It took longer than I thought to sew everything together and the letters are always the hardest to put on.” And the lion’s face, that also took a while. “Sorry, if it seemed like I was avoiding you.”

“Thanks.” Lance took a glance at Keith, who had a small smile on his face. Cue crush getting larger. “Shiro’s family is Japanese, so we never really celebrated Christmas like we did New Years, so this is the first time I’ve ever gotten a stocking. And handmade too.”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“But still, you didn’t have to make it. Though, your brothers mentioned something to me about stockings with your family.”

Lance felt himself stiffen. Shit, shit, shit, fuck, end him, right now! They didn’t, they couldn’t. He looked over to Keith who was looking at him. They stared at each other before Keith shook his head.

“Never mind. They’ve been messing with me this whole time and your mom got really mad at them after so it was probably nothing.” Lance felt happy that the secret was safe but at the same time, he wanted Keith to ask. But who was he kidding? Keith, feel the same way about him? Doubtful. “So, should I go hang this up?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. Come on, I’ll show you were the attachable hooks are.”

Most of Lance’s family was in the living room when they came out. He spotted his brothers at the dining table, peeling potatoes and looking up at the scene. They both got smirks on their faces as they watched Keith attach the hook to the mantel but they stopped when his mother appeared behind them. They focused on the potatoes and didn’t even look up after their mother disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Yay!” Stella had decided to come downstairs now, “you have a stocking. Now you’re really Lance’s _novio_ aren’t you?”

Keith looked confused and Lance tried not to start crying. What was with his family?

“ _Novio_? Doesn’t that mean…?”

“It’s a different word for friend.” Stella looked like she was going to correct him, but Mira, his older sister (and bless her heart), clamped her hand over Stella’s mouth and nodded.

“Yep, different word for friend.”

“Ok? I was sure it meant something else.” Keith said, still looking very confused.

“Who speaks Spanish here mister? Trust us.” Lance patted Keith back, finally getting off the topic.

He could tell him he was right, it meant something else. He could tell him how he really felt. But he didn’t want to lose what he had with Keith now. Maybe later, if he ever had the courage.


	2. The Stocking Tradition Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith was not stupid. He knows that the stocking means something more in Lance's family, and he's going to find out what.

Keith was slow on social cues and might not understand things from pop culture but he was not stupid. He learned a few things since coming with Lance to L.A to spend Christmas with him and his family. One, L.A was actually susceptible to being a bit chilly. Two, Lance’s family was really big. He heard Lance talk about them but actually seeing the whole family was something else. Three, two of Lance’s older brother were total assholes. He knew they loved Lance and everything but they wouldn’t leave him alone and were always constantly teasing him. Mostly, they would tease him about inviting Keith over.

Keith knew he liked Lance for a while. He wasn’t sure what it was that made him realise it but one day he was looking at Lance, who had his reading glasses on and his nose in books and just thought, _‘god he’s cute.’_ It should have been obvious to him. He didn’t make friends with anyone and wasn’t really one to snap back at people rude words, but Lance was different. He would snap back so quickly with him and even after they became friends after the project, Lance could bring him out of his shell more than anyone, even Shiro. He noticed that Lance would stop bugging him when he honestly felt like everything was too much but he noticed that Lance would pull himself back even more, like Lance thought he was the reason Keith would want to pull away from everything. He didn’t want Lance to feel like he was responsible, cause he wasn’t. He was understanding, knowing when to back off and made sure to check up on him after, but he was never really responsible.

When he came to Lance’s house and Stella, the youngest out of everyone and the quickest to like Keith, mentioned a stocking, he didn’t think it was that much of a deal. Then Lance went out one evening and when he got back, locked himself in his room, where Keith was staying as well. It get even worse with the very public ridicules his brothers would give, talking about how often Lance would mention him and other such teasing. Then they mentioned something.

“You know,” Markus, the eldest one, came up behind him in the kitchen and threw his arm around his shoulder, “getting a stocking is a great McClain-Sanchez family tradition. But getting one made, wow, you are lucky.”

“What?”

Leo, only older than Lance by 3 years but still a tormentor to his brother, popped in, “having a stocking means you’re one of the family. It’s a tradition that you get to open your stocking during dinner on Christmas Eve. But when you’re added to the family, you get one made. Lance sure is lucky.”

“Be even luckier if he ever said anything.” Markus said, causing him and Leo to burst into laughter. Keith stood there, thoroughly confused when Lance’s mother stomped in, laundry in her hand and smacked both of her son’s in the bad of their heads. She started yelling at them in Spanish, but with his mediocre knowledge, Keith had no clue what she was saying. All he knew was that it had something to do with Lance because of his repeated name or the word _hermano_ , the word for brother. Then he couldn’t take being ignored anymore. He knew Lance was one for keeping his mouth shut for things that would bother him for the most part and he didn’t want to be the reason that Lance felt uncomfortable. So he cornered him in his room, and in return received the handmade stocking, with his name printed and a lion face on it. But when he mentioned what his brothers said, he saw how quickly Lance stiffened. Then after Stella saw his stocking and called him Lance’s _novio_ , where he stiffened all over again, it should have been so obvious. How the hell did he miss it before? But he didn’t want to assume anything, so he had to get information from someone he could trust, kind of. His translation app pretty much answered his question about the word _novio_ but to ask about the stockings, he decided to get Stella to answer that. She was pretty insistent on always being around him and she didn’t look like one who could keep a secret very well.

He was helping her make snowflakes when he brought it up. “So, why are Markus and Leo making such a big deal about Lance making me a stocking?”

“Stockings mean you’re part of the family.”

“Well that’s nice, but why is it so important he made me one?”

“Well mommy and daddy buy ones for _novios_ and _novias_ that anyone has so they don’t feel bad if it gets thrown out if they don’t come anymore.”

So, store bought stockings for boyfriends and girlfriends to avoid the uncomfortableness if the relationship ended, smart.

“Whenever someone new is added to the family, they get a handmade stocking.”

He assumed added meant married into. “But I’m just here as a friend, how am I added to the family?”

“Because Lance wants you as his _novio_.” Well, that answered that question.

“So, Lance likes me?”

Stella nodded enthusiastically, “Mommy says that he looks like Mira whenever she talks about Chris. Mira even made Chris a stocking before he was added to the family.” Chris was Mina’s husband and apparently from the stories, her first and only boyfriend.

“So, if Lance likes me and I’m added to the family, it’s his job to make me a stocking?” Keith felt himself smile at Stella’s nod. Keith was not stupid. He knew that the stocking meant more than what Lance was saying and he knew that Lance wasn’t saying anything to try and protect himself. He knew he was going to have to take the first step.

Later that night, he listened as Lance walked back in the room after doing his nightly routine. He watched the Cuban teen collapse onto his bed and let out a huge sigh.

“I can’t wait till my grandparents are here. Then no more work.”

“Doesn’t that mean more work for you though?”

Lance turned his head to face him, “nope, once they get here, my grandmother and mom insist on doing everything themselves. It’s there way of bonding I guess. Sorry I abandoned you again today. I swear, you do good on getting one person’s gift right for 3 years straight and suddenly, you’re roped into doing it for everyone. And I have to start wrapping them all tomorrow.” He whined

“Speaking of gifts, there’s something I want to give you.”

Lance looked confused, “huh? A gift?”

Keith got up from the air mattress and leaned on Lance’s bed, almost hanging over him. “My way of saying thanks for the stocking. It was nice of you to add me into your family’s traditions.”

“It’s no big deal.” He could tell Lance seemed nervous with how close he was. How had he not noticed it before he got the stocking? It was so obvious now. “If Stella hadn’t bugged us, we wouldn’t have forced you.”

“I know, but you hand made it and everything, which you really didn’t have to do.” Lance shrugged, not really saying anything. “I spent a lot of time getting this present so you have to accept it.”

“Fine, I guess.”

“Good, turn on your back and close your eyes.” Keith ordered, nudging Lance’s shoulder

Lance raised an eyebrow and turned on his back like ordered. “If you do anything weird to me, I swear.”

“I won’t. Close your eyes.” He waited until Lance’s eyes were shut before pushing himself up enough to be his head was right over Lance’s. “Stella told me what the stocking tradition really is and I would really like to be added to the family.” Lance looked like he was going to get up, but he beat him to it. He leaned down and pressed their lips together. The angle was a bit weird, but Keith just went for it. Lance wasn’t responding and he was going to pull away but he felt Lance grab his arm and kiss back. When they did pull away, Lance looked a bit stunned.

“You just…”

“Yeah.”

“And Stella told you…”

“Yeah.”

“Did you mean it? I mean, you didn’t kiss me just as a thank you only right?”

Keith sighed. It was amazing how confident Lance acted but really wasn’t. “Do I look like the type of person to kiss someone just cause? I did it cause I like you and I really don’t want the stocking to have to be thrown away after I leave.”

“Oh.” As if everything finally caught up to him, Lance turned red and hid his face in his hands. “Shit,” he groaned, “so I was pinning and you already liked me? Oh god, Hunk was right.”

“Well you did a pretty good job about hiding it. I didn’t realise until after you gave me the stocking and what your brothers said.”

Lance pulled his hands away and looked at him, looking pretty nervous. “So, well, since you like me and you’re here, uh, did you want to go with me to the local winter fair? As a date?”

“Should that even be a question?” Lance seemed to glow with his smile

“Can I kiss you again?”

“That really shouldn’t be a question.” Keith said, before kissing Lance again. This time he returned it immediately.


	3. How to spend a snow day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It snowed outside, and Lance drags his boyfriend out to the snow.

Keith was rudely awakened by his boyfriend shaking him, yelling in his ear about snow. He groaned and tried shoving his head under the covers but Lance yanked them away. He still didn’t move and blocked out Lance’s voice. Lance on the other hand was annoyed his boyfriend wasn’t listening to him. It snowed overnight, this warranted getting out of bed and outside. This called for dispirit measures. He straddled his boyfriends back and shoved his hands up Keith’s shirt and attacked his sides. Keith yelped and started struggling to get lance off, but he wasn’t moving.

“Lance, stop! Knock it off! Lance!” eventually Lance stopped but instead of pulling his hand out, he wrapped them around Keith and dropped his body on top of his, Keith letting out a groan. “Lance, get off. You’re heavy.” That was half a lie. Keith liked it when Lance would lie on his back when it wasn’t a sexual situation. It made him feel warm and protected.

“Keith, it snowed outside. We have to get up. Please.” Lance begged. Keith tried not to give in so easily. They could stay here, in bed, not moving, going back to sleep. But Lance started planting kisses on the back of Keith’s neck with each begging word and Keith could help it.

“If I say yes, will you get off of me?” he yelped again when Lance tugged at his industrial piercing with his teeth before getting off. “Lance!”

“If you wanna get me back, you have to come outside. Come on!” Keith watched as Lance pull off his pyjamas and pull on winter clothes. He smirked when he saw Lance pull on a red sweater that read, ‘Santa’s to do list’ with different versions of saying me. Keith had a matching one that just said, ‘Hi, my name’s Santa’. Lance was dressed and bouncing by the bed, still trying to get his boyfriend to move, so Keith let out another groan before finally pulling himself off the bed. He just pulled on the first set of clothes he found and let Lance throw his winter jacket at him before dragging him down the stairs of their apartment. The minute they were outside, Lance bolted out into the middle of the white covered lawn. Keith watched Lance dance around the falling flakes as he just sat on the front steps. It felt like watching a kid honestly, but he couldn’t ask Lance to change.

“Keith, come on! I wanna make a snowman.”

“I’m not wearing gloves.” He pointed out. He didn’t even have a scarf or hat with him either, since Lance dragged him out so quickly.

Lance felt slightly guilty. He did drag Keith out without much thought. He bounded back over to his boyfriend and pulled off his scarf before wrapping it around Keith’s neck.

“You’re going to get cold.” Keith said, losing the scarf slightly.

“Better me than you.” Lance said, leaning against Keith’s knees to keep himself balanced and gave him an Eskimo kiss. “Come on, snowman.” He bounced up and held out his hands.

Keith let his boyfriend pull him up and followed him to his desired place of where the snowman would sit. He watched Lance roll the snow up into the balls, only really helping to stack them on top of each other. He watched him pack snow together into triangles, raising an eyebrow when they were placed on the head.

“A cat snowman? Really?”

“We need to be different Keith. The kids from the other apartments are no doubt going to come down here and make the best snowman, so we have to be different.” Keith just shook his head; his boyfriend could be such a child sometimes. He watched him continue to decorate the snowman, only helping when Lance asked. When Lance wasn’t looking at him though, he decided to be a bit devious. He picked up a handful of snow and when Lance was busy with the snowman’s face, he shoved the snow down his shirt. Lance let out a large yelp and danced away, trying to get the snow out and cursing Keith, who was close to dying of laughter. “Keith, you are dead!” he started to chase after the dark haired man, who just ran back inside the building and held the door so Lance couldn’t get inside. “Keith, let me in!”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you.”

“Asshole! Let me in! Take your punishment like a man.”

“You dragged me out of bed to make a snowman with cat ears. You deserved it.” Keith pulled his weight backwards as Lance tried yanking the door open again.

“Hey!” Keith looked over his shoulder to see their neighbour, Ms. Yang. She was rude, crass and didn’t like anyone. Avoiding her was a must and she reminded Keith of this spoiled evil woman from one of the K-Dramas Lance liked watching. “Does this building look like a playground to you? Out of the way, boy.” Keith moved away and Lance squeezed in before Ms. Yang stormed through.

“Jez, who pissed in her coffee?” Lance said, before he took advantage of Keith’s distraction and poked him in the side. “That’s for shoving snow down my shirt. I’m all cold now.”

“I told you you would be. Come on, let’s get you warmed up.” They headed back to their apartment and Keith told Lance to get changed. He turned the portable heater that sat in their living room on and made hot chocolate for the both of them. He found Lance on their couch with their fuzzy blanket that was usually under the comforter on the bed. Lance held his arms open and left the blanket off his lap, so Keith planted himself there. He was about to hand Lance his mug when Lance pulled something on his head, pushing it down over his eyes. “Hey!” he felt Lance take one of the mugs out of his hand and he pushed whatever what on his head off his eyes. His beanie. “Why?”

“You’re going to put your head on my shoulder but you’re earrings get really cold whenever you go outside.” Lance explained, pulling the edge of the beanie over Keith’s ears covering his earnings.

Keith messed with his beanie a bit more before he did what Lance knew he’d do and tuck his head under Lance’s chin.

“Getting warm?”

“Mhm.” The silence felt pleasant and nice and cuddling with Lance made him feel warm everywhere. If this was what he got to look forward to every time Lance would drag him outside, he’d let that happen every time.


	4. Knitted with love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance got a bunch of wool and then disappeared for ages. Just what is he up to?

Lance pulled another bundle of wool from the shelf of the shop he was in. The group was at trading centre and they had split up with the instruction not to cause any problems, don’t draw unnecessary attention and don’t spend all the credits Allura gave them in one place. The castle’s treasury would run out at some point so best to conserve. Lance had pulled away from Pidge and Hunk, who were looking for spices and different parts they needed, when he found the small craft store. According to Pidge, who was able to get a clear time of what it was on earth, that they were halfway through December.

December was when Lance would start making sweaters with his _abuela_. When his family would start pulling all the Christmas stuff out. Where the whole house would smell like Christmas dinner. But not this year. This year he was lightyears away fighting in a war against purple furry aliens in a mechanical lion. Seeing the craft shop, he remembered when he would go with his _abuela_ to pick the different colours for everyone’s sweaters. Knitting seemed like such a strange thing for Lance to like doing, but he remembered when they first moved down the states, the cold had been bothering his grandparents, making them move slower than usual. Knitting was something his grandmother had always done but with how slow she moved, Lance offered to help her. He loved it, from the first row he made. It was their thing to do during December and now he didn’t get the chance. When he spotted the yarn, an idea sparked. Before he knew it, he was pulling colours of yarn off the shelves and the shopkeeper already had different knitting needles at the register for him. He was just glad it didn’t look that different from earth needles.

 He made the shop keeper a very happy man and hauled the bag of wool back to the Castle, before hiding himself in his room. He sorted everything out and set to work, he had a lot of work to catch up on.

* * *

 

Keith watched as Lance grabbed his dinner before disappearing out the door again. Lance had been doing this for a week now. Whenever they weren’t training, being taught lessons by Allura and Coran or fighting Galra, Lance would disappear, not even staying for lunch or dinner.

“Is Lance alright?” Allura asked as Lance disappeared around the corner.

“I’m not sure. Hunk?” Shiro asked

“Well, it might be because of Christmas. It’s a really big thing with his family.” Hunk explained. “Everyone would either come down from Cube, or if money was good, they’d go up. From what it sounded like, Lance would have been able to go up to Cuba this year if we were still back on earth.”

A sober silence filled the dining room. Earth, it seemed so far away and non-existent now. There wasn’t really anything that Keith missed. His bike and the freedom of living so far maybe, but he had a purpose here and he had his brother. Not only that, he made a family here. But Christmas? That was never important to him. It was just a day that showed how lonely he was without anyone to celebrate it with.

“What is this Christmas anyway?” Coran asked

“Well, it’s different for a lot of people. There are some religious aspects to it, but to my family, it’s a time for everyone to be together and celebrate. There’s food, presents and every year we do a family photo.” Pidge explained, a small smile gracing their lips.

“Oh, I remember Lance would help his grandmother make sweaters. He’s really good. I’m gonna miss not getting one this year.” Hunk said.

Keith was curious what was making Lance disappear for so long. Not having Lance around felt off, like something was missing. He actually missed their daily bickering sessions and little competitions. He refused to admit it to anyone, though he had a feeling Shiro and Pidge –cause who hid anything from Pidge – knew that he had a small crush on Lance. It was hard not to. Looking past his over confidence and constantly running mouth, Lance was a caring person. He was self-sacrificing and determined. The time he spent primping showed off and the way his eyes sparkled when he got excited. Keith had it bad, but he wasn’t even sure if Lance felt the same way.

“Someone should check on him later.” Shiro suggested.

Before he could stop the words from coming out his mouth, Keith said, “I’ll do it.” Everyone stared at him and he shrugged. “You’re always telling me to have a bit more compassion, so I am.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think you’d listen. I’m proud of you Keith.” Shiro said, patting him on the shoulder. “Make sure he’s feeling ok.”

Seeing no way out now, after dinner, he trekked to Lance’s room. He could hear his classical music from the other side of the door when he got there. He knocked and heard Lance call out asking who it was.

“Lance, open up.” He heard the music stop and the door slid open enough for Lance to poke his head out.

“What do want Mullet?”

“You’ve been disappearing all the time. Everyone else is worried.”

“I’m fine. Are you done?” hearing Lance brush him off ruffled his feathers.

“What the hell are you doing in there?”

“Nothing. If you’re done checking up on me, can we go now?” Keith huffed. Lance was being an ass and he wouldn’t let people say he wasn’t trying to be helpful or kind. Fine, screw Lance then.

* * *

 

Lance knew he acted like an ass to Keith. He was just checking up on him but he had been in the groove of knitting and he really wanted to get back and not give away the surprise. He just hoped his gift was enough to get Keith to at least forgive him. He carried the stack of wool to the dining room, where everyone was eating breakfast. He saw everyone look up but noticed how Keith looked away from him, a slight scowl on his face. God, he was gonna have to grovel for forgiveness. Lance dropped the pile of the table and took a breath.

“Ok, so I know I’ve been disappearing for a while, but I have a really good excuse.” He pulled the first bundle of wool and shook it out. The mice started squeaking at the sight of the mouse silhouettes on the sweater he held. The sweater itself was pink with the white silhouettes and on the arm, was what he assumed was the Altean Royal symbol. He found it on a bunch of tapestries down in the main sewing room when he went looking for a needle. “I’ve been working on these since I got back from our last shore leave. Allura, this one is yours.”

“Oh, Lance. Thank you. This looks amazing, but how did you know this is the Altean Royal family crest?”

“It was on a bunch of tapestries down in the main sewing room. I’m just glad I put the right thing.” He said as he handed Coran an orange and dark blue sweater with a moustache silhouette.

“Lance, this is impressive. You did all this in two weeks?” Shiro asked, as Lance handed him his black sweater. The face of the Black Lion was knitted into the front with the Black Paladin symbol on the arms. Hunk and Pidges were similar, the sweaters the colour of their respective lions, with the faces and symbols.

“Yeah. I usually do this with my _abuela_ the whole month of December so I had a lot of lost time to make up for.” He noticed Keith glancing over at him as the other pulled their sweaters on. “Hey mullet, I need your help with something.”

“And why should I help you?”

Grabbing Keith by the wrist, Lance pulled him out of his seat and out of the room, “cause I said so.” Keith struggled the whole time, but Lance held tight. They got to his room and Lance pulled him in before letting Keith rip his arm out of his grip.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I’m sorry.” Lance blurted out, stopping Keith from saying anything else. “I know I was rude to you when you came to check up on me and even trying to work on the sweaters isn’t an excuse for how I acted.” Seeing him stunned, Lance grabbed the bundle of red wool that was sitting on his pillow and handed it to Keith. He watched as Keith unravel the bundle to reveal a pair of knitted red fingerless gloves, the Red Paladin symbol on the top of it and a scarf. “I know I gave everyone a sweater, but there’s this thing called the sweater curse and it says if you give your significant other a sweater then the relationship doesn’t work out. And I didn’t want to ruin my chances before I could do anything.” Keith was still silent, looking at scarf. Lance couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. “Unless, I already did ruin things, than you can just-”

Keith suddenly threw the scarf around his neck and yank it to him, bring Lance forward and their lips crashed together. Their teeth clanked but Keith corrected himself, pressing his lips firmly against Lance’s. Lance was quick to return the kiss and put his hands on Keith’s waist. The two eventually had to pull away for breath but Keith didn’t really move far, putting his forehead against Lance’s.

“So, does this mean you forgive me?”

“I am a bit annoyed I don’t get a sweater, but yeah. I think this scarf is much better.” Keith said, yanking the scarf just a bit to pull Lance into another kiss.


	5. Gingerbread Coffee for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While working at Lions Castle Coffee, Lance meets a fellow student with a love for gingerbread. But Lance is sure he's seen him before. But where?

Lance was cleaning the espresso machine when he heard the door open. He turned to see a bundled person rubbing furiously at their arms, trying to get warmth. He didn’t blame them. Winter break was almost upon the local college students and Lance knew of a bunch of people who were already leaving the freezing city to go back to warm climates. He would have been with them, if his asshole of a big brother didn’t leave him out on the family cruise trip, leaving him stranded to take extra shifts at Lion’s Castle Coffee and spend time in his dorm apartment. Hunk was heading up to Florida soon and even though Shiro, his manager and boss, would still be in town, Shiro’s girlfriend’s family was also in town, so Shiro would be dealing with that.

The customer came up to the counter, pulling off his black beanie and ruffled his hair. They guy had a mullet. Well, more of an Asian mullet, but a mullet none the less. His purple eyes seemed to be watering from the cold and Lance noticed his lips were kinda cracked.

“I’m surprised you braved the cold. It’s been pretty quiet.” Lance said

“I needed to go the bookstore to sell my books. If I didn’t do it today, I wouldn’t have gotten the most money from them.” The guy said, stuffing his hat in his jacket pocket and blowing into his hands. The guy was wearing fingerless gloves and Lance restrained himself from telling the guy would have warm hands if he wore functional gloves.

“Do you go to Garrison College?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I go there. I know the school’s bookstore is the worst for getting money for books. So what can I get you?”

“Uh, medium coffee and do you have gingerbread syrup?”

Odd request. “Yeah, how much?”

“Two pumps.”

“Sure, name?”

“Keith.”

Keith. Keith, why did that sound familiar? He accepted Keith’s money and started on Keith’s coffee, still trying to figure out where he had seen him. It was tinging at the back of his head, but he couldn’t think have where. _‘We go to the same college; I’ve probably seen him around campus, that’s all.’_

Seeing how he was the only one in the shop, Lance took the cup over to Keith personally. During the time he was waiting, Keith had pulled out a Mac Book Pro and was typing away. From the small glance, all Lance could see were unexplainable equations. Ok, science major, maybe math. It was times like that Lance was glad he was photography major. Keith thanked him, but went back to his work. Lance cleaned up some more and messed around on his phone for a while, before Keith packed up and left with a nod. He kept thinking about him when he got back to his dorm, but without placing him, Keith faded to the back of his mind.

* * *

 

Keith had come back through the week. That in itself wasn’t strange. They were the closest coffee place from campus and most of the apartment dorms, it was his desire to have something with gingerbread whenever he came that struck him as odd. One time Hunk had over made gingerbread cookies at the dorm, so Shiro offered that they could be sold at the store and Hunk could keep the money made from them. That day, Keith got a regular coffee, no flavouring and 2 gingerbread cookies. Whenever he came to get a refill on his coffee he would get another cookie. Keith didn’t seem the type to like sweets, but there he was chewing away. He learned a lot about Keith though. He was an astrophysics major, drove a motorcycle (though not in the weather they were having), he was born in Korea before he and his mom moved down to the states for her job (listening to Keith speak in Korean should not of been hot, but it was) and he had a therapy cat to help with his anxiety, named Red. He wasn’t always up for conversation but Lance always seemed to get an answer from him. He would tell Keith about the amount of work his classes would have, how much of an asshole his older brother was and all the odd customers he had the pleasure of serving. Lance actually started look forward to seeing Keith every day. With his friends all busy for the holidays, it felt good that there was someone he could still talk to.

School had officially ended and Lance, along with like 2 other students, were the only ones left in their dorm. Lance was sulking behind the counter. Shiro went gift shopping with Allura, Hunk had left to go to his family and his asshole brother was sending pictures of their family on the cruise almost every hour. Lance took pleasure in blocking his number and ratting him out to his mom. His mother was furious and he got to hear her chewing the asshole out over the phone. But there was no way to get to the cruise now. So he was stuck here, the shop was empty and Keith wasn’t here yet.

He then remembered about Keith. When he first met him, he was sure he recognised him. Lance thought more, trying to think of where he could have seen him before. There weren’t many events that everyone would be interested in that happened on campus. If they were a smaller campus, maybe, but the events that he went to that would have most of the students were the plays, burlesque, art shows or midnight breakfast. He didn’t think he’d see him in the auditorium, it housed more than enough people. The dining hall was just as big, so seeing everyone was just as impossible. Art shows were a bit more controlled. The last one of the semester had been a while before Keith came to Lion’s Castle. Two of his photos had been shown off there and a lot of people came to talk to him. Maybe Keith was one of those people?

The door opened and Keith came in, dusting off the snow that had been slowly falling outside.

“Hey. See you haven’t left yet.” Lance said

“I live off campus, so I’m still in town basically the whole break.”

Lance perked up at this. If Keith came to the shop every day, he wouldn’t be alone.

“Cool. You’re regular?”

“Sure. Have there been no customers?”

“Nope. It’s been pretty empty.” Lance said as he poured the coffee into a medium cup and went over to the syrup station.”

“If you want, did you want to join me for coffee?” Lance looked over to Keith, who actually looked embarrassed. It looked endearing on him.

“Sure. I’ll bring your coffee over.” Lance made himself a hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows and brought both drinks over. “Here you go.”

“Thanks. So I take it your mom couldn’t get you on the cruise.”

Lance pouted, “No. but she did rip my brother a new one, so that was good. But I’ll be spending Christmas by myself, which sucks.”

“Sounds like it.” Keith said, taking a sip of his coffee.

Before he could stop himself, Lance asked, “So what’s with the gingerbread? You get in your coffee and if it’s not in your coffee, you’re having the real thing.”

Keith looked at him in disbelief. “You, you don’t remember?” then he groaned hiding his face in his hands. “Ugg, I should have known.”

“Hey, wait a second. Remember what?”

“I’ve met you before idiot. Should have known you would have forgotten me so easily.” Keith looked like he was about to get up and storm out, but Lance reached over and grabbed his hand.

“Ok wait. Look, yes I don’t recognise you, but I did recognise your name. We both go to the same school, but I couldn’t place where we could have met since our campus is so big. The only idea I have of where was the last art show but I talked to a bunch of people that night.”

Keith looked like he didn’t believe him, but he did say, “we talked at the snack table. I was asking you about your cat photo, the one with the galaxies in it. I was asking you which one you used and we got into a conversation about space. We kept eating the gingerbread cookies and the person in charge of the table got mad at us. You told me that this place had a decent gingerbread coffee, so I assumed that meant you wanted to see me again. But you didn’t say anything when I came here.”

Lance felt like an idiot. He wasn’t lying when he said he talked with a lot of people, but now that Keith pointed out there talking, he did remember it a little. He had finally had a chance to get away from people and someone had come up to him asking if he knew about the picture. He did remember talking with the person for a while, the conversation fuzzy. But Keith came anyway and still came back even after Lance didn’t recognise him. Lance groaned himself, dropping his head on the table.

“I’m an idiot.”

“Yeah, you are.”

He looked up at Keith, who didn’t look as mad before. “Keith, I’m so sorry. I should have remembered you, but I talked with so many people, but I should have remembered anyway. God, I’m such an ass. I feel horrible.”

“Well, if you want to make it up to me, you can maybe take me out.” Lance felt surprised, looking at Keith’s red face. He honestly didn’t expect him to be so bold, but he smiled.

“Yeah. I can do that. I’ve been wanting to do a photoshoot for next year’s art show, think you can help me.”

Maybe Lance could like gingerbread cookies a bit more, if it helped him not be alone for the holidays.


	6. New Year's Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is not missing the meteor shower happening on New Year's, but a cold might say differently. But not to worry, best boyfriend Keith is going to make it better, with their own meteor shower.

On All Years Night, there was going to be a meteor shower. The whole group was planning on going up to the park to watch it, staying there past New Years. Lance was looking forward to it the most.

“I haven’t seen a meteor shower before. This is going to be so cool.” He said, as Keith, his boyfriend, was choosing blankets for them to bring.

“Yes, I know. You’ve been saying that every day since we decided this.” Keith knew his boyfriend was happy, but having to hear it all the time was getting a bit annoying.

Resting himself against Keith back, Lance whined, “but babe. I’ve seen eclipses, watched new stars come into the sky but I’ve never seen a meteor shower. Do you have any idea how exciting that is?”

“I have an idea.” He let Lance lay on his back while he grabbed another blanket from the shelf of the Target they were in. “think these will be enough?”

“With the ones we have already? I think so.”

“Perfect. Off,” he nudged Lance, “go get us food from Starbucks while I go pay for these.” Lance planted a kiss on his cheek and disappeared out of the aisle. Keith thought about anything else they’d need for their apartment and nothing could come to mind. He walked passed the school supplies when he spotted origami paper. He decided that he and Lance could origami the day of and pulled packets off their hooks and was happy to see star paper. He could almost never find star paper and it was one of Lance’s favourite things to do. He quickly bought all the items, hiding the paper at the bottom of the bag so Lance wouldn’t see it, he wanted to surprise him. Lance was sitting at one of the tables, Keith’s Oreo frappe sitting on the table, a small paper bag sitting next to it.

“They had lemon poppy muffins, so I got you one. I don’t understand how you can drink a frappe in the winter.”

“Better than that weird fruit quencher you get.” Lance just sticks his tongue out at him before letting out a sneeze. Keith raised an eyebrow; Lance had been sneezing a lot lately. “Lance, are you getting sick?”

“What, no. Our apartment is just dry.”

“Then why have I not been sneezing?”

“Because you’ve been there longer. It was originally your apartment.” Keith really couldn’t argue with that. They both moved into his apartment when they decided to live together, and it wasn’t so cheap that it was horrible, but it could get pretty dry. He knew Lance complained about how his skin dries just from being in the house. “Besides,” Lance continued, “there is no way I’m getting sick, a week from New Years. We still need to have our first New Year’s kiss and there’s the meteor shower.”

Keith couldn’t help but huff out a laugh. Of course a New Year’s kiss would be something else Lance would look forward to, despite Keith willing to kiss him at any time. “Alright, but if you do get sick, I’m not kissing you.”

“Then trust me, getting sick is the last thing on my mind.”

But despite it being the last thing on his mind, sure enough, Lance’s health started to go down. Keith had unearthed their humidifier but that didn’t seem to help Lance’s sneezing spells. His tan skin was starting to lose a bit of colour and Lance could be found under piles of blankets, shivering. His forehead was hot to the touch and he always seemed tired. It seemed that Lance’s worse nightmare was coming true. Keith was sure he would not be well enough to go out All Years night.

He brought over a bowl of pine rice porridge to Lance, who was tangled up in the blankets on bed. He rubbed his shoulder, waking the sick man up.

“Hey sleepy head. Think you can eat?”

Lance moaned but pushed himself up, lying against the headboard. His skin was still a bit pale and his eyes were a bit glassy. Keith put the bowl on Lance’s lap and sat on the edge of the bed and put his forehead against his. Lance pressed back, whining when Keith pulled away.

“Looks like your fever hasn’t gone down much. I don’t think you’ll be better by New Year’s Lance.”

It killed to see his boyfriend pout so much. The cold just made him look even more pathetic.

“But the meteor shower…”

“I know, but if you go outside, you could get worse. Besides, Shiro doesn’t want you out with you still this bad, dad’s orders.”

Lance huffed. He knew not to test Shiro, but Keith could still see he was upset. “Can I get a glass of water?”

“Yeah. Eat what you can ok?” Keith went back to the kitchen and got Lance his water and was heading back when he almost tripped over a bag that was sitting on the floor by the couch. It was the Target bag, still filled with blankets and origami paper. And star paper. Keith had an idea.

* * *

 

The morning of December 31, Lance woke up to the feeling of small objects falling on him. He opened his eyes to see Keith holding a medium sized jar over his head and him surrounded by small stars.

“The hell? Where did you get star paper?”

“Target. I thought we could do it when we were at the park, but since you can’t go out, I tried to make your own meteor shower.” Keith watched his boyfriend push himself up, dusting the fallen stars off of him.

“This is a lot, how long did this take you?”

“I’ve been working whenever you’ve been asleep.”

Keith could see Lance turn slightly red. Getting Lance embarrassed was one of his favourite things to do. Lance could be sweet and overly so, so getting Lance to turn red at affections was fun.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know how much you wanted to see the meteor shower. I’m willing to still give you a midnight kiss though.”

Keith noticed Lance get a mischievous smile on his face before he stole a kiss. “Hey!”

“I’m just saying thank you.”

Keith let a laugh. His boyfriend was so sneaky sometimes. The two put the stars they could find back in the jar and left it on the bedside table. Lance was joining Keith in the kitchen when someone knocked on the door. Keith watched as Lance opened it and in came pouring their friends.

“What are you guy doing here?”

“We weren’t going to see the meteor shower without you. So I set up a camera in the park to live stream it when it happens.” Pidge said, looking proud of themselves. They looked closer at Lance, “you have an origami star in your hair.”

“Oh, yeah. Keith made me my own meteor shower. I don’t think we got everything off the bed.”

“Please tell me you have the paper and can you teach me how to do it properly? I keep getting it wrong.”

Lance agreed and watched as Hunk sent Keith out of the kitchen with the instructions of ‘take care your boyfriend so he’s still awake enough when midnight comes’. He watched from his spot next to Keith, all wrapped up in blankets, as Keith instructed everyone on how to do the stars correctly and he was sure there was no other way he’d like to celebrate New Year’s. With his friends and the guy of his dreams.


	7. Keith likes Lance's snuggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a burlb about how much Keith likes snuggling Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years

Keith wasn’t really big on physical contact, not unless he initiated it first. He was fine with Shiro, that was his brother. Dating seemed hard when he didn’t feel 100% comfortable with touch. He’d let it happen but there’d be times where he wanted the scratch their arms off for touching him so much. So when he started dating Lance, it was a bit worrying. Lance was the most touching person he ever met, always hanging off someone or being in their space bubble. He didn’t know if Lance knew the meaning of back off. But he did. When a person told him to back off, he was off in a second. He let Keith set the pace of how touching went down. He’d always give a huge smile whenever Keith would touch him, either by sitting really close to him, holding his hand or his favourite thing, just hugging him.

Keith liked hugs. They made him feel safe and warm and he could feel the love from it. That’s why he had such a big smile on his face after Hunk had pulled him and Lance into a side hug. He felt the general love Hunk was giving in that hug. He’d feel protected hugging Shiro back when he was younger and the few he got now where ones of support and brotherly love. Getting hugs from Lance, the amount of love he’d get from them was amazing. He could tell Lance was happy he trusted him enough to even hug him, always squeezing him tight and holding him close, like he never wanted to let go. It felt good.

Whenever they’d go to sleep, whoever ended up as the big spoon, cuddles were a must. Keith liked being able to hide his face in Lance’s back, or feel Lance’s chest pressed up against him if he became too small spoon. Lance would be holding onto his waist and Keith’s hand would always find its way laced into one of Lance’s.

Mornings though, were one of Keith favourite times to cuddle. Back when he lived in the shack away from Garrison, he’d hold a pillow while sleeping to feel like he was cuddling sometimes. But now, even all the way in space, he had Lance. Keith’s body always woke up when Earth’s sun rose, so he started moving when he felt his body wake itself up. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a little. His room, ok. He felt his other hand weighed down, so that meant, he was the little spoon, with Lance’s arm curled around him. He could feel the warmth of Lance pressed against his back and squeezed his figures. Lance could sleep for ages, so he didn’t really respond. Keith let go of his and turned in his arms, staring at Lance’s sleeping face. Lance opted out of the mask the night before, reminding Keith that too much moisturizer was bad for the skin. While Keith didn’t understand this stuff, he liked how it made Lance’s face so smooth. He let one of his fingers trace up from the side of Lance’s neck up to his cheek, poking at his nose –making Lance twitch it- and up to his forehead, where he played with the hair that fell on Lance’s forehead.

Lance liked playing with his hair. He remembered when they had finished with a long and gruelling fight. Everyone was tired and Allura suggested they unwind with an Altean movie. Keith was sure they’d all fall asleep in the common room, but he agreed anyway and went to go take a shower. When he got to the common room, Lance had been starched out on one end of the couch and without giving it much thought, went over and dropped himself on the Cuban teen. Lance had done nothing but let out an ‘oof’ but just wrapped his arms around Keith and start running his hands through his hair. Keith had fallen asleep before the movie even started.

Lance groaned, signalling he was waking up. He moved one hand and grabbed Keith’s, which was still playing with his hair and pulled it down near them both.

“Why are you awake? It’s so early.”

“You can do with getting up early. Think of it as practise for all the drills Allura pulls.” Lance groaned and wrapped Keith in his arms, pulling him closer.

“No more drills. I just wanna stay in bed with my koala of a boyfriend.”

Keith felt confused. “Koala?”

Lance actually opened his eyes and looked at Keith, “yeah. I may be the snuggly one, but you hold on like a koala to a tree. Not that it’s a bad thing,” Lance said, seeing the look on Keith’s face, “it’s cute. I never thought you’d be so into snuggling. I like it.”

Keith felt his face turn red and hid himself in Lance’s neck, holding on tighter as if to stop his boyfriend from looking. “Shut up.”

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re flustered. How long do you think we can still snuggle for until Allura gets us out of bed?”

“If she’s feeling giving? Maybe an hour, hour and a half?”

Keith felt Lance nuzzled his hair, “cool, now go back to sleep.”

Keith let out a huff. Who was more of the koala, him or Lance? It didn’t matter, as long as Lance held tight and didn’t let go.


End file.
